


Jingle Cells

by SegaBarrett



Category: Oz (TV)
Genre: Community: oz_magi, Gift of the Magi, M/M, Oz Magi 2013
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-26 16:04:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3856672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/pseuds/SegaBarrett
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everybody wants something someone else has.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jingle Cells

**Author's Note:**

  * For [neevebrody](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neevebrody/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I don't own Oz, and I make no money from this. 
> 
> A/N: Posting this on here at last :) I hope you still like it :D

Tobias Beecher remembered back when he would have Christmas with his wife, Genevieve, and his three children. Gary and Holly and his little baby, Harry. They would all crowd around the tree, and the kids would get them up at five o’clock in the morning or some other crazy time so that they could all rush downstairs and open the presents. Beecher would run the camcorder, and they’d spend the whole day listening to Christmas music on the radio and visiting with both his parents and Genevieve’s. It was a wonderful day each year. In his mind’s eye he could taste the eggnog, hear the train set running, and see the glimmering ornaments hanging on the tree.

Now, it had all been replaced, all been destroyed. Genevieve was dead, and he hadn’t seen his children in so long that he wondered sometimes whether they had ever existed at all or whether he had just made them up in some kind of attempt to hope for something waiting for him on the outside. All he had to look forward to this Christmas was staring at the gray walls of Oz and hoping that Schillinger wasn’t planning to try and kill him before the day was over.

That… and Keller.

With Keller, every day was both exciting and terrifying. He knew that in a lot of ways, Keller was the last thing he needed. The man was manipulative, calculating, and apparently potentially a serial killer, but Beecher loved him despite all of it – and maybe in some ways, because of it. Maybe he loved Keller because Keller was everything that Genevieve had never been. 

Either way, whether it was right or wrong, Beecher felt that he should give Keller something for Christmas. That was what couples did, right? They gave each other gifts for Christmas. 

The options were pretty limited, considering that it was prison, and somehow he didn’t want to give Keller a shank for the holidays. He spent days thinking long and hard over what he could get – maybe he could make something, but he didn’t know what. As a kid, he’d learned origami for a while, but there wouldn’t be the right paper and he didn’t think Keller would be all that interested in a tiny crane, anyway. He needed to give him something that he could actually use. What did Keller like? What was he passionate about… other than apparently Beecher?

He had watched Keller on the primitive prison computers every once in a while; maybe he could buy him a computer game of some kind… but where would he even get it? He probably wouldn’t even be allowed to have it within the prison walls. Admittedly, some prisoners seemed to get privileges that others didn’t, hell the inmates in Unit F even had a couple of cappuccino machines between them. 

Maybe that was it. Maybe he could get something smuggled in from Unit F. Maybe a radio? Suddenly he remembered that Keller did have a pair of headphones, a random pair that Adebisi had lost and Keller had found and hidden in his cell. A radio to go with it would be an excellent gift.

***

Keller looked up at the top bunk and wondered briefly where Beecher had gone off to. Perhaps he was out working at Sister Pete’s, which would mean that he was probably meant to be at his own work site right about now. He couldn’t remember what he was actually supposed to be doing, which was good because he couldn’t bring himself to actually care about it, either. His thoughts were on something that was relatively banal but to him was far more important – a Christmas gift for Beecher, to prove to him that he actually had changed after all.

He had never been a big holiday person, had never seen the point. He had gone and bought Christmas trees and exchanged gifts with all three of his former wives, of course, but it had never had the magic that it was supposed to have, that all the Hallmark cards would make him believe that they had. Maybe that had been when he’d started to realize something wasn’t quite right with him, or maybe he had realized that a long time ago and this had just been confirmation. 

This Christmas seemed like it ought to be different, though, just like that stolen New Year’s kiss during the lockdown. With Beecher, everything seemed different, a hazy sort of bright that hurt his eyes. He was looking over everything he had ever done with new eyes, and he was finding that on the whole, he really didn’t like what he saw. He wasn’t good enough for Beecher, but he wanted him nonetheless.

There had to be something he could give him that would say those words to him in ways Keller himself couldn’t. Or even a way to feel them somehow in a way that wouldn’t be his normal Keller self, playing a game or a Chess match against anyone who would get roped into it. 

He sighed. He couldn’t exactly take a stroll down to Macy’s and pick something out for Beecher there. He didn’t even know what Beecher wanted. Maybe he wanted to spend time with his kids again? He’d convinced him to do that once, but it seemed fraught with so much uncertainty and pain that it might not be a good idea to try again.

There had to be something physical, tangible. Of course, he could always kill Schillinger – that would be a load off Beecher’s back if he didn’t have to deal with the man anymore… but it would also stir up tons of trouble with the Aryans and he couldn’t really see Beecher being pleased with a dead Schillinger in a bow. It was possible, of course, but something more heartfelt would probably show Beecher he was a changed man considerably more effectively.

What did Beecher want, though? More concretely, what did Beecher want that Keller could actually get his hands on in Oz – booze was out, of course, although champagne would have been a nice gift. 

In frustration, Keller stepped up on to his bunk and slung his arms over the metal frame that supported Beecher’s mattress. Maybe he would come up with a better idea by sniffing him or something.

As he leaned back, his feet haphazardly supported on his own mattress, his hand slid across something metal in Beecher’s bed. He watched it as it flew off the bed and rattled against the concrete floor, then hopped off the mattress to see what it was.

Keller crouched down to see a circular piece of medal, sort of a medallion of some kind. He picked it over and ran his thumb against the material to find that it was engraved. There was some sort of tree drawn into it – he couldn’t hazard a guess what kind of tree, as he’d never really been one for plants except marijuana – and three names written near the leaves. _Holly, Gary, Harry._ The names of Beecher’s three children.

He closed his palm around it, feeling the metal get hotter from his body heat. _Beecher should have a real way to keep this thing instead of sticking it in his bunk,_ Keller thought. _He needs a chain or something._

With that, Keller’s lips curled up into a smirk. He had an idea.

***

Cyril could kind of remember being a kid and waking up on Christmas morning, excited to see what was under the tree. It was the one day of the year that his family seemed like they actually all got along – he and Ryan and their mom and dad. December 26th their father went back to being an asshole and their mother went back to being terrified of him, but for that one day…

He knew that Oz was a scary place, but just the same there were nice people too, like Tobias Beecher was nice enough and Chris Keller, and Sister Pete and Father Ray. Dr. Nathan was nice sometimes too, until she seemed to remember that she hated Cyril for what he had done to her husband.

But he wasn’t going to think about any of that now. What he was going to do was pick out a beautiful gift for Ryan, a gift that he would really like that would make him smile like he used to when they were kids.

He tried to think over what Ryan would like, and what he had to give. He wished he could remember these kinds of things as well as he had before he’d gotten hit in the head – he remembered Ryan telling him how smart he had been, but now it seemed like Ryan had just made that up. Ryan was the smart one.

He did remember Suzanne – nice Suzanne who was Ryan’s mom and was kind of Cyril’s mom too in a way – had given Ryan this nice little musical box with a dolphin on the top. Ryan liked dolphins; he had always thought they were cool. That was one of the little things he remembered from when they were kids. They had gone to the aquarium once or twice and there’d been a dolphin show and Ryan had thought it was so neat.

Unfortunately, though, the music box didn’t play. It didn’t actually make any music. There was some kind of key that was supposed to go with it, but Suzanne didn’t have it.   
Cyril smiled and figured he could probably find somebody who knew how to find the key. The guys in Oz seemed to know how to get everything. They were smart. 

He’d just have to have something to trade.

He peeked under his bunk and noticed the boxing glove he’d stashed in there. He had been practicing to box, and he didn’t know what happened to the other one he had… he’d probably lost it somewhere or left it somewhere… But it wasn’t really something he wanted to do anymore. Too much fighting.

Maybe one of the other guys wanted a boxing glove. 

He picked it up and made his way down towards the library. Ryan was going to be so happy.

***

Ryan had a lot to think about. Maybe this Christmas would mean that Dr. Nathan would finally realize that they were meant to be together and she would help he and Cyril escape. That way, they could spend a real Christmas together, walking through the streets, he and Gloria arm-in-arm… And maybe his mother would be there, too. She could spend time with Cyril while he and Gloria got up to, well, what they would be getting up to.

A smirk crossed Ryan’s face as he thought about it. It was only a matter of time; after all, Ryan O’Reily had a plan for everything and he hadn’t failed yet. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, but he wasn’t going to think about that right now. There were more important things going on.

Though Gloria seemed to always be at the forefront of his mind and heart these days, Cyril was never far behind. Maybe he could make Christmas something special for Cyril this year, even if they didn’t escape. But he’d need something that wasn’t cheesy or corny that Schillinger and his buddies could rip up or at the least make fun of to upset Cyril – or something that Cyril wouldn’t understand, like some paperback book shipped to the prison through some charity or another. 

He needed something that suited Cyril, something that he could use and would appreciate just the same.

Ryan almost snapped his fingers when it hit him. He’d just have to drum the money together for it, or… well, it seemed like everyone wanted favors or some kind of barter these days. Maybe he could get some drugs to trade in for what he needed.

If there was one thing Ryan knew, it was that he always had something that somebody else wanted.

***

Beecher was half-asleep when Keller came into the pod with a loud hoop and holler.

“It’s Christmas, Toby! Time to get your ass out of bed!”

Beecher looked up at him with barely-disguised annoyance.

“What the _hell_ , Keller?” Beecher grumbled at him. 

“You’re not really looking the Christmas spirit,” Keller continued, proceeding to pull off his shirt and give Beecher a not-unwelcome view of his chest.

“I got about three hours of sleep,” Beecher told him, trying to stuff his pillow over his face to block out the light but figuring that Keller wouldn’t be put off all that easily. 

“You can sleep later. I have something for you.”

Beecher rolled his eyes. 

“I’m sure you do, and I’m sure it’s between your legs. Not in the mood right now, Keller.” 

“Not like that,” Keller replied, “But that’s a great idea for later. I got you something for Christmas.” He extended his cupped hand and slowly revealed a little silver chain. “So you don’t have to lose that medallion of yours. I kept finding it in your bunk and let’s face it, a hack might make off with it or something. Or it’ll get lost in a vent. Come on, Toby! Don’t thank me too hard.”

But Beecher was up on his bunk, his legs swinging over now, staring at the chain with a sigh.

“….Irony just follows me, doesn’t it?” he inquired to no one in particular.

“What?”

“I sold the medallion. To Adebisi.” 

“What the hell did Adebisi want with it?”

“Who knows?” Beecher replied. “I swapped it for your gift.” He fished under his sheet and pulled out a tiny radio and tossed it in Keller’s direction. Keller’s lips curled into a smirk and he laughed for what seemed like a full minute. “What’s so funny? Okay, it’s a stupid gift. But you have those headphones and I figured… Well, like I said, stupid…”

“I gave those headphones to O’Reily to get you this chain,” Keller explained through his laughter. “Toby… We are the saddest pair of fucks the world has ever seen.”  
Beecher shook his head.

“Nah… Maybe just that Oz has ever seen.” He jumped down from his bunk and wrapped his arms around Keller, pulling him in for a kiss. Maybe today the guards wouldn’t bother to stop them. It was Christmas, after all.

***

“Ryan?”

Ryan O’Reily woke up from the very pleasant dream he had been having, where he and Gloria had been sitting together in front of a fire and eating Pop-Tarts or something. In the dream she’d had a little dog, a Chihuahua, though in the dream it had somehow looked more like a miniature version of a Rottweiler. He would have to ask her if she had any pets the next time he saw her; maybe once he and Cyril got out… If they ever did get out. Might as well be Christmas of all days to flatten his hopes into nothing all over again. If he could only climb back inside his dream…

“Yeah Cyril?” Ryan murmured. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Christmas,” Cyril told him, eyes childishly wide and with a smile that made Ryan have no choice but to get down out of his bunk.

“Yeah. Though Christmas in Oz doesn’t really account for much,” he replied. “No Christmas trees or little trains like the ones we used to see in town. Do you remember those, Cyril?” 

Cyril didn’t reply, only clasped his hands behind his back.

“Ryan? I got you a present.”

Ryan looked at him, touched.

“You didn’t have to do that, Cyril,” he told him. “But… thanks. What’d you get me?”

Cyril sheepishly brought around his hand to reveal the little key.

“For the music box. I don’t know if it works but… Khan said that it might.”

Ryan sighed and shook his head.

“Cyril… I don’t have that music box anymore.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“I gave it to some guy in Unit F so I could get this gift for you… He saw it and wanted it for his girlfriend apparently. I figured that Mom would understand.” He went behind the bunks and showed Cyril the single boxing glove. 

Cyril shook his own head.

“Ryan?”

“Yeah Cyril?”

“…We’re silly.”

Ryan wrapped his arms around his brother and hugged him tight.

“Yeah, Cyril… I guess we are. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas Ryan.”

And for a second, Ryan could have sworn that he glimpsed snow falling from the sky into the pods of Emerald City.

**The End**


End file.
